TCS, Infosys and Cognizant accused of violating H-1B Visa rules

The US has alleged that top Indian IT companies such as TCS and Infosys are using unfair means to grab a large percentage of H-1B visas. US officials said that the trick used was to flood the lottery system with extra tickets, which naturally increases the chances of getting more visas. The Trump administration wants to fix this loophole by replacing the current lottery system with a new immigration policy based on merit. The allegations were made at a White House briefing, details of which have been posted on White House website.

The transcript reads, “You may know their names well, but like the top recipients of the H-1B visa are companies like Tata, Infosys, Cognizant — they will apply for a very large number of visas, more than they get, by putting extra tickets in the lottery raffle, if you will, and then they’ll get the lion’s share of visas.”

The US officials said that they chose to mention Indian companies only since the top three recipients of H-1B visas were Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Cognizant. “And those three companies are companies that have an average wage for H-1B visas between $ 60,000 and $ 65,000 (a year). By contrast, the median Silicon Valley software engineer’s wage is probably around $ 150,000,” the official said.